KANYAKUMARI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who visited cyclone Ockhi-hit Kanyakumari district in
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday afternoon, listened to the grievances of a couple of women from the families of missing fishermen. The women spoke in Tamil, and Modi patiently listened to them.
“He could not understand their language, but he patiently listened to them as he could feel their pain,” said Fr Andrews Cosmos, the vicar of Thoothoor forane. Fr Andrews took part in the interaction with the Prime Minister.
It was supposed to be a formal meeting where the Prime Minister was to sit on the dais and listen to the grievances of the people. “But he got down, walked to us and asked if we were all fishermen and interacted with us for close to 15 minutes. He spent a major share of the time listening to our grievances,” adds C Jacob, 60 of Thoothoor, brother of a missing fisherman.
“This Christmas will not be a happy one for you. But I am wishing you,” participants in the interaction quoted Modi as saying. The Prime Minister reached here at 2.15pm.
Rebisha of Chinnathurai was in tears as she told Modi that all the four fishermen from her family (father, brother and two brothers-in-law) were either dead or missing. The Prime Minister told her that the Centre would look into the needs of the family.
Around 40 fishermen from the coastal villages and six parish priests participated in interaction with the Prime Minister and also handed over memorandums with 12 demands. “But it was disappointing that he did not declare
cyclone Ockhi as a national disaster. We hope he meets our demands,” one of them said.
Participants said that the Prime Minister restricted his commitments with the words “I will look into it” and “I will try” without giving any concrete assurances.
The main demands put forward by the fishermen and representatives included widening the search area for the missing fishermen, coordinating with neighbouring countries for the search operations, providing satellite phones to fishermen to alert them on disasters and establishing a helipad and naval base in Kanyakumari.
Families of missing fishermen sought death certificates for the missing fishermen if they are not found by December 31. The Tamil Nadu government had announced Rs 20 lakh for the families of the dead fishermen. The fishermen sought compensation from the Centre. They also sought reservation for fishermen youth in the Coast Guard and the Navy.
Later, Modi interacted with farmers affected by the cyclone. He also interacted with the BJP cadre.
Earlier, chief minister
Edappadi K Palaniswami presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the impact of the cyclone and demands of the state.
The Prime Minister left Kanyakumari at 4pm, after spending less than two hours there.